Apple announces its last year at Macworld Expo

[travelin cat]

Apple has decided to pull out of MacWorld after 2009. Also, Steve Jobs will not be presenting the Keynote address in 2009 as he has so many times before.

From Apple [apple.com]

[weeks]

This is good business. Control your message, control the timing. This once a year meeting was creating a demand for news from Apple on the meeting's schedule. That had to be seen as absurd within Apple.

And now is the time for people to get use to the idea of Jobs not being the front man all of the time. The stock will drop today on this news, but then the market will digest it.

I've learned the hard way that you don't want your organization too closely identified with any one personality. This applies to companies and it applies (maybe even more so) of non-profits.

The business press likes to focus on people because people can be interviewed, be funny, do bad things and their readers are people who are interested in people. But, products, process, organization and goals are what make a business real. Personalities with ideas are everywhere. And Apple is trying to communicate this.

[Slinger]

Steve Jobs has been one of the most important people in the history of the computer industry. It will be a somber day when he retires. And, its very possible that Apple may stumble without him. He certainly has had the magic touch with Apple and nobody else could keep it working correctly. We shall see.

[Syzygy]

MacWorld is Apple to the core, but MacWorld without Apple Macintosh is just... the World!

Syzygy

[vincevincevince]

I feel this underlines the wider realignment which we've seen from Apple over the last few years, in particular the move away from being based upon the Apple Macintosh. Apple is seen by a whole younger generation not as the Mac company but as the Ipod, Itunes and Iphone - certainly not an accident.

It's also telling to consider that although the Macbook Air is one of the most desired laptops amongst those I talk to who are planning to upgrade the fact that it's a Mac and runs Mac OS X is viewed as a minor downside rather than then desirable feature it was in the past.

The flexibly scheduled product launch events will mean that they can pull a crowd to suit the product, rather than having to suit their product to the established crowd of die-hard Mac computing fans. At the end of the day - the 'good old' Mac crowd is no longer the target market for the majority of new hardware leaving Apple's gates.

[EliteWeb]

I will have a booth at MacWorld this year, I am excited to see how it goes. Despite IDG's PR that MacWorld will continue this may potentially be the last MacWorld, I expect a huge turn out this year as people want to attend what may be the end.

MacWorld is huge for the companies that exhibit, this will hurt the exposure to these companies in the future. It will cause many changes in the Mac community, some companies will fade out, others will learn how to evolve to succeed.

MacWorld Paris and other shows have kept going without Apple. (PR update, MacWorld Paris has announced it will not happen this year.) But we have seen from history with MacWorld Boston, without Apple it folded.

[Lorel]

It's also telling to consider that although the Macbook Air is one of the most desired laptops amongst those I talk to who are planning to upgrade the fact that it's a Mac and runs Mac OS X is viewed as a minor downside rather than then desirable feature it was in the past.

Obviously from a Windows point of view.